The Sap is Rising in the MMP!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
101

Afternoon, mumpers! It’s windy and wild out there, we have storm warnings for two incoming storms. I think the one we’ve got currently is Dudley, and we have Eunice coming along on Friday. Whichever one it is, it’s not fun out there.

nellie thank you for the laugh this morning!

Pub last night was really good, they have a Nepalese chef who makes outstanding curries, the beer’s always good and as a bonus, there’s a very friendly cat called Panda who has a personal seat at the corner of the bar and regularly has a wander round the pub to get as much fuss as possible for whoever’s willing to provide.

We had very good food and then spent a bit of time discussing our easter trip, which apparently will involve some amount of this provided car rental is not extortionate. There are plans for some train travel too, and some stops here and there although we haven’t yet decided where here and there actually are.

Last day on campus for the week, which is a relief, I am far too old for this getting up in the dark business. Off to the pub again with friends tonight so at least I get to sleep in a bit in the morning.

102

Up early waiting for a phone call from the trash hauling company. They’re going to deliver a skip to the house this morning that we can fill with unwanted crap. I’m inordinately excited about this.

Later today we take our cat for photos. My wife entered some sort of raffle with the Cat Adoption Team and won first prize, which is a professional photo shoot of Q’itih and her picture in the annual calendar. I hope she doesn’t get a swelled head over the whole thing.

GASP! The skip is here!

103

There’s something to be said for that. In some ways, I’m sorry I didn’t hang in there for 5 more years. both to hit the threshhold of 62, plus 5 TSP years as a GS-13 would have been really nice. But I don’t regret my decision - the politics that had taken over our organization would have made me crazy. If you can do it, good on ya!

After an epic poop, a little snooze, and a bottle, I’m trying to get Toby to take a real nap. I know he’s tired because he’s cranky. I may have to rock him to sleep, but I’ll give him a little more time in the swing.

Once he falls asleep, I’ll haul the dirties downstairs and get a load started in the washer. Because the excitement never ends… and neither does dirty laundry.

:rofl:

104

:astonished: That’s impressive! :clown_face:

105

Ratties are safely back in my home, and I had a long, lovely soak with my friend (plus getting sniffed/accosted for scritches by her 7 cats and her doggy) which resulted in my relaxed self getting a decent night’s sleep.

Recharged & about to head back to irk. It’s a good crew today, too. It’s nice to look forward to work instead of dreading it.

106

Y’all!

I almost posted this in mini rants, but I knew my Mumpers would understand better: InCrPoo tested positive for the 'Rona yesterday and is out for 2 weeks.

{ sob }

107

That sucks. All the best !

108

Morning all (well, it’s just 11am here…). Woke up to find that my morning internet routine was disrupted since I had no service. So I got the lawn mower out, folded the handle, put it in the back of the car and took it to the service place. It’ll be a couple of weeks, but best to have it done before the mowing season starts (the way the weather is going, that’ll be March). Came home and found out a simple unplug-plug of the modem got me back on the Internet, so have fed my face and will head to the gym in about an hour or so for some exercise.

shoe, I’m sure that he’ll be back healthier than ever just to see your adoring eyes…

FCM, my TSP is about 10% of my ‘regular’ retirement (CSRS), but I presume for Taters it is a major portion of her retirement. Oh, and

Glad you specified that was Toby… :smile: :wink:

Cookie, is it one of those 20-footer things? Have fun filling it up and look for scars on your driveway when they make the pickup.

Boo fae, sounds like your Easter trip may put you around nellie and Seanette part of the world. I’ll be out there a couple weeks later (4 May).

Plant doc, glad the elder boy (how old is he, if I may ask?) is doing ok, my Mom used to doctor me and little brother, usually with a large application of Hydrogen peroxide. Must have worked, I’m still here. And good on you keeping your cool–I’m sure the lad was less than thrilled with the blood pumping from his hand…

doggio, glad the dryer is working and hope you don’t see any more bills for it.

OK, need to finish catching up and be about the day. All y’all take care.

109

I woke up before 4 a.m.. I think my brain was wrestling too hard with something to put it in a dream and let me sleep. I won’t go into the whole thing, but it had to do with a phone call from a semi-estranged (deliberately on my part) miltantly anti-vaxx (hence the estrangement) “friend” vs. a pro-vaxx mutual friend and employee of the anti-vaxxer who quit due to the anti-vaxx BS. A-V was trying to turn me against pro-vaxx, and yes, we ARE still in middle school, thank you very much.

It took me a long time to get back to sleep, but I’m up, sheveled, dressed, and fed…and sleepy. I don’t nap well, so I’ll just try to stay awake and go to bed early.

Shoe, so sorry you have to do without InCrPoo for a time. Maybe being away from you will make him long for your charms. Might you send him a nice, slightly-flirty-if-you-squint get well note? Yay on the good night’s sleep. Pet sniffs are a miracle cure. Pass it on.

Cool prize, cookie! I don’t think cats get swelled heads. I mean, they’re already pretty self-confident, right? Have fun with the skip!

BooFae, too bad you can’t go a little farther north and get to Mount St. Helens, the Washington volcano that blew in 1980 and left a two-mile crater. Even 42 years later, it’s an astounding site. But it does sound like a gorgeous trip. I’m excited for you!

plantdoc, glad son is OK. Yikes. Sounds like you did an expert job of patching him up.

I thought the same thing.

110

BooFae that looks like a great trip and guess what? On one end, you could meet two of us Mumpers, and on the other end the stories say there are others… :grin:

Cookie it’s too late. Cats come pre-assembled with a large ego.

Shoe I’m sorry about ICP. :frowning:

Metal Mouse don’t forget me! Nettie and I live fairly close together. When you’re out this way, it would be lovely to see you.

Plant Doc I’m glad your kiddo is ok. That sounds scary.

'Beamer is settling into his routine of eye drops many times a day. He’s got a contact lens in his eye and a big eye shield thing taped to his face to keep him from rubbing. He’s really grown into a good natured young man. He’s handling all of this with equanimity and just the one demand for ice cream. :stuck_out_tongue:

One slightly disturbing thing happened a few days ago. A woman died of a gunshot at the end of our street. The longer story is that several blocks away, someone fired into the car her grandson was driving. He kept going to get away and then pulled onto our street to get help. She was 78. There’s some indication that it was a hate crime, but we don’t really know.

Take care everyone.

111

Afternoon all!

Boofae wasn’t kidding about the weather being ick here- it’s all sideways rain, and my former landlord just posted that a tree’s just fallen in the spot where I regularly used to park… Weather to stay indoors.

I’ve had classes all week, but now I have a blessed deadline gap for a bit, so I am taking a few days off dammit, after the two online live classes tomorrow. The rest of the classes are pre-recorded; they can wait until I have brain availability.

112

Jesus, that’s awful, sunny!

Hey, for you traveling Mumpers, I am also here in the PNW. I am around 40 miles south of Seattle.

113

The recent cold snap is finally set to end today, with an expected high of 53 (it’s currently 45, at nearly 1pm). YAY! Tomorrow’s expected high is 67 ( :astonished: ), then it’ll be in the upper 40s for a few days. I’m good with mostly-sunny skies and upper 40s for the jazz festival weekend.

I had a few hours of panic/stress over the weekend: at 5pm on Saturday, I got a text from my pianist saying that he needed to leave town right away for a family emergency and wasn’t sure when he’d be back, and that he was very sorry but I should find someone else to play this Saturday’s show. I knew something Bad must have happened for him to do that, so I said no problem and wished him well. Inside, though… :exploding_head:! I’ve worked with him a lot over the years and he was going to be kind of a safety net for me at this show, my first in two years. But then I reminded myself that I’m a pro, and can work with anyone, and started sending text/FB messages. The first backup I contacted wasn’t available (he’s playing for someone else at the same festival at the same time), but luckily the second guy got back to me on Sunday morning and said yes! And, miraculously, he was able to rehearse on Monday afternoon, at the same time I’d scheduled with the first pianist! PHEW!! Monday’s rehearsal went well, and I’m definitely feeling more confident about the show. I check into the hotel on Friday afternoon, my show is Saturday at 1pm, and I don’t come home until Monday. I can’t wait!

If Bailey were to write a book, it would be called The Barkening: There Can Be Only One (Right Time to Bark My Head Off, Which is Whenever Misnomer Is In a Zoom Meeting).

That made me laugh more than it probably should have. :slight_smile:

114

Oopsie That all sounds incredibly stressful! I’m glad you found another pianist. (Pianist is one of my favorite musical words. Just because.)

115

I’m so sorry to hear about your neighbor, sunny! That has GOT to be scary.

It’s noon and I’m sitting about, unshowered, on various work calls. I’d meant to go running before work started. Honest. But I made the mistake of logging on first and checking my email, then got sucked down a rabbit hole. Oh, well. I’ll go for a walk soon. Can’t put the act of putting on workout clothes to waste.

Between nellie, ratty and JaneDoe42, I was giggling madly earlier today. No additional contacts took a trip into my oatmeal today, thankfully. It probably helped that I wore glasses instead, but still.

Back to work - it’s my last uninterrupted day 'til Tuesday. For some reason the kids have a half day tomorrow, then the day off Friday and Monday (I assume for President’s Day). It’s a mystery how they can learn so much and attend school so little.

116

Happy Hump Day!

I went to the park this morning before daycare. One of our group had a death in the family and texted he would be there this morning, so I went early to see him and his dog. It was a chilly 29 degrees then, but it’s supposed to be in the 50s today, and the 60s tomorrow.

I ordered too many groceries, we couldn’t fit everything into the freezer. I have about 10 pounds of ground beef sitting in the fridge waiting for room in the freezer.

I got a scare the other evening. I started getting text messages from my bank saying I had withdrawals coming out. Then I got a text with my new balance, which was quite a bit smaller than it should be. I looked at my account online and everything was okay. I went back and looked at the text and while it was delivered that day, the date in the body of the text was from 2019.
I thought it was my phone acting up again, I often wake up to many new text messages and they are all a few days old. Yesterday I got a text from the bank apologizing for the mistake and to ignore the text messages from 2019.
I need to get up and start doing some stuff around here. I was sick all day yesterday, and not feeling all that great today. The stress of needing to get stuff done and not getting it done is making it harder to get stuff done.
I’m so tired of paper. I deal with almost everything online so there is no paper.
I have a huge stack that needs to be sorted and dealt with.
It makes my head hurt.
We got a new person in the main office at irk and he is starting to irritate the shit out of me. Too many emails that I just don’t have time for, and stuff that has nothing to do with my job.

117

He’s eleven. And rather level-headed. Boy Scout, that helps. He was shaky, but rather calm.
Keeping calm helps, I learned that from my mom, who used to be a nurse. And having a task at hand makes it easier to keep calm. I usually get the shakes afterwards. And this could have been much worse. Thank whomever it wasn’t.

118

Yep. Toddlers and epic pooping. Far worse than babies, but by that time you’ve been conditioned into not being immidiately grossed out, at least not visibly :joy:

119

But he’s not a toddler - he’s 3 months old! I don’t even want to imagine his toddler poo… :grimacing:

He’s back with his mom, and sister, by now. FCD is home from the neurosurgeon - we may be looking at spinal surgery #11 - on his neck this time. That’s where it all started way back whenever… But that’s for later. Tonight, we’ll have sketties. Tomorrow, we’ll head to the boat and fetch the canvas and the name plates.

But now, I need to renew my membership in the Baltimore Aquarium. Onward!

120

Well, the photo shoot wasn’t great, but there were some decent shots. She was clearly unhappy to be in a strange place, and she’s never been a cat that plays with things most cats go for. She likes to chase a scrunchy around, but things waved in the air don’t interest her, so the photog had trouble getting her attention. Luckily, this cat is not a biter or clawer.

It’s the smaller version and I had them put it on the street. It’s unlikely that we’ll fill it, but we’ll make a stab at it.